NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 191 



Red, or precious, Coral occurs at St. Iago and also at St. Vincent, the fishery being 

 carried on by Italians, Spaniards, and Americans. One ship, which was employed during 

 the season with seven boats, is said to have taken thirty barrels of the Coral in the rough 

 state. Professor Thomson and Mr. Murray dredged over the ground in the steam 

 pinnace during the whole of the 8th August and were very successful. The Coral occurs 

 in 80 to 120 fathoms, and is dragged for by rough nets and swabs, and a duty of a dollar 

 per kilogramme is paid to the Government. 



The insect fauna at St. Iago, so far as cursorily examined, was found to be the same as 

 that at St. Vincent, though much richer. 



The rocks collected at St. Iago are felspathic basalts and phonolite. The raised beach 

 described by Darwin 1 appears as a conspicuous white streak underneath the cliffs sur- 

 rounding the harbour. Immediately below the lava bed is a crystalline limestone 

 cementing volcanic debris, in which appear small fragments of palagonite, and clastic 

 grains of shells. Under the microscope it is seen that the organic structure of these 

 shells has not entirely been lost. The fragments of volcanic origin enclosed in the 

 limestone are small splinters of basalt, fragments of crystals of augite, olivine, hornblende, 

 black mica, and magnetite. Some specimens of incrustation on the lava are almost entirely 

 made up of carbonate of lime, present all the characters of a stalactitic deposit, and do 

 not contain organic remains discernible under the microscope. The organisms found in 

 the limestone are, as pointed out by Darwin, the same as those now living in the harbour. 



1 Darwin, Journal of Researches during the Voyage of H.M.S. " Beagle," pp. 4-C, ed. 1871. 



